As we welcome the 2019-2020 year with A World of Opportunity, we are excited to recap our chapter activities from 2018-2019. Members throughout the University of Washington campus were able to create innovative experiences, lead themselves and eachother in the chapter, and inspire their communities with professional development, networking, and organizational opportunities to the Seattle area.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018: Olivia Eide and Shubhangi Bansal were selected as the Vice President of Finance and Vice President of Membership, respectively. Tiexiao “Ted” Wang, Chapter President Alex Capi, and Executive VP Jennifer Lara were selected as Washington state officers (VP, Secretary, and Treasurer) shortly after being interviewed by the Washington State Officers.

SEPTEMBER 26-27: Our chapter officers have geared up with full enthusiasm as the team members prepared for the event. Taking the guidance from the Washington state officers, the team pulled off a great presentation at the career fair.

OCTOBER 1:  Our 1^st information session of the year was a success with lots of interested students. Washington State President Ryan Kussmann made an appearance and talked about the state collegiate division, as well as the UW officers introducing PBL with an introductory presentation and icebreakers.

OCTOBER 8:  With the presentation from Alex and Shubhangi, the chapter concluded its meeting talking about how can a person prepare for a career fair. Additionally, they explained guidelines and professional tips to polish a resume, cover letter, and acquire different career resources. Along with this, the participants were guided about how can they dress and professionally carry themselves for networking events. The next day, there was a business career fair at the Husky Union Building, where a couple of members met with companies that represent a variety of industries.

OCTOBER 17: The Intro. To PBL Programs meeting included an overview of everything opportunity possible for new students that are eager to get involved on campus. From career development programs like the Career Achievement Membership Program (CMAP) to other leadership opportunities, all attendees were able to answer more questions about PBL and how to get involved.

OCTOBER 24:  Alex headed the event with support from Ted and Shubhangi discussing the necessary parliamentary procedures to be followed during the upcoming meetings of FBLA-PBL. This being the first official chapter meeting experienced the welcoming of the new VP of Communication Maddie Seidel.

OCTOBER 25-27: Alex traveled to Manhattan, N.Y. for the inaugural PBL Career Connections Conference (CCC). This is the first national fall leadership conference that is exclusively for PBL members, which changed the entire conference experience for attendees that were used to prior traditions of combining FBLA and PBL members at National Fall Leadership Conferences (NFLCs). While representing the University of Washington chapter and the Washington Association of Phi Beta Lambda (WA PBL), CCC had reached over 200 attendees from around the country, which was a packed 3-day professional adventure that included resume critiques, networking sessions with other state leaders, alumni, and industry leaders, individual headshot pictures, and soft skill workshops. Alex had the distinct opportunity to visit Bloomberg LP and Closerlook, Inc.!

NOVEMBER 2: Ted spoke and at the Washington FBLA Southwest Regional Fall Conference, where over 100 middle and high school students gathered in Longview to learn more about FBLA, how to improve in competitive events, and important leadership skills. In his opening speech, Ted emphasized the connection between FBLA and PBL and encouraged future participation in PBL.

NOVEMBER 5: Alex traveled to Redmond on for the Washington FBLA West Central Regional Fall Conference. He facilitated a workshop called “Phi Beta Lambda: Collegiate FBLA”, going over in-depth the major differences between the larger high school division than the collegiate, smaller national community of professional leaders. In addition, he shares about his experience in reflection to his 8+ year service to the association.

NOVEMBER 7:  Local companies iSoftStone and Northwestern Mutual joined us at our Professionalism & Photos event. Here, our members sparked business conversations about artificial intelligence projects with iSoftStone researchers. They also heard about financial internship opportunities with Northwestern Mutual representatives. Following this, we offered professional photos to our members for free, and to other interested students for just $5. Alex spearheaded the picture session, taking professional shots with member Hannah Juel, as you can see above how great they turned out!

NOVEMBER 9: In our first social of the year, interested students and members gathered for a fun game of bowling in the Husky Union Building on November 9. Pizza, bowling, and good company made the perfect recipe for a great night. Everyone competed hard and it was a close game, but UW freshman Ethan Coffey walked away victorious with 113 points. If you missed our first social, come attend our next one!

NOVEMBER 14: We got back to business with our second chapter meeting. At this meeting, we practiced parliamentary procedures in action. Additionally, six of our members registered for CMAP, a fun resume-builder created by FBLA PBL. Together, we set goals, worked through new ideas and started our CMAP progress as a team.

NOVEMBER 17: Alex and Shubhangi participated in Washington Collegiate DECA’s Disciplines Tournament at Bellevue College. Showcasing such business performances, the chapter came back with Alex placing 3rd in Public Relations and Alex & Shubhangi placing 2nd in Entrepreneurship.

NOVEMBER 27: The March of Dimes Foundation is our national charitable partner for over 40 years that focuses on researching the prematurity amongst mothers and their children, and determining ways to prevent such issues while educating the public. We wanted to do our part, so we hosted a small fundraiser, collecting money in exchange for advocacy and ribbon awareness.

DECEMBER 2: Our 2018-2019 class was initiated in Seattle, WA. Six (6) new members officially joined our PBL chapter. Maddie Seidel, Olivia Eide, Shubhangi Bansal, Gabriella Adam, Ted Wang and Hannah Juel are our newest members (and Nimisha Mekala joined later in Winter 2019), and we are so excited to have them as a part of UW PBL. Our officer team is ready to welcome even more new members next quarter!

DECEMBER 6: Did you miss our chapter’s Washington fundraiser? We partnered with MOD Pizza in the U District. Lasting all day, anyone could stop by and mention FBLA-PBL to contribute 20% of proceeds with chapter development and conference fundraising. We had a great turnout all day, and the pizza was delicious!

DECEMBER 11: In our last meeting before the break, our dedicated chapter met to work through details relating to our upcoming State Leadership Conference in March. Despite it being finals week, our incredible officers were able to make great strides, and we are all very excited for the conference to come!

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019: During the first few weeks of January, our chapter was in the midst of planning the state conference at the UW campus, including a “Branding Yourself” workshop that was held on January 29. Unfortunately, winter quarter was undergoing through a few weeks of snowmageddon, so we were unable to organize such events like National FBLA-PBL Week and Winter Initiation.

MARCH 1: Alex and Nimisha completed the Director level of the Career Membership Achievement Program (CMAP)! This program enhances each participating member to engage in personal and professional activities in and out of PBL while getting out of one’s comfort zone and ultimately creating a portfolio of academic and leadership achievements.

MARCH 2: The state conference season was amongst us at UW. For the first time, the Washington Association of Phi Beta Lambda (WA PBL) expanded the state leadership conference experience to 2 regional locations, with the UW Seattle chapter hosting the Western Washington conference in conjunction to Walla Walla Community College (WWCC) Clarkston chapter hosting the Eastern Washington conference that same day. Alex and Jennifer co-hosted the Seattle conference as Chapter President & Executive VP locally and as State Secretary & Treasurer statewide while Tiexiao Wang co-hosted the Clarkston conference as State Vice President with the 2018-19 State President Ryan Kussmann and State Executive Director Emma Carpenter. Visitors at the Seattle conference include: Bellevue College students, Multnomah University PBL members, WAFBLA State Parliamentarian Ashley Lin, and our very own UW members. Amongst the networking and competitions, we got to hear from businesses and organizations such as: iSoftStone North America, Your Story Painted, Associated Students of UW (student government sponsor), Dubstech (workshop: Business Analytics) and the UW Relay for Life chapter of the American Cancer Society. Winners from the Western WA Business Leadership Conference includes Alex achieving 1st place in Business Presentation, alumni member Antonio Lozano achieving 1st place in Job Interview, and Maddie Seidel achieving 2nd place in Job Interview.

JUNE 15: 3 of our members: Alex, Jennifer, and Olivia graduated with their Bachelor of Arts degrees. Alex received his B.A in Communication with a minor in Informatics and a certificate in Professional Sales, Jennifer received her B.A. in Communication, and Olivia received her B.A. in Public & Global Health. #uwgrad2019

JUNE 24-27: Alex attended the National Leadership Conference (NLC) in San Antonio, Texas, where he chosen as a recipient of the $400 NLC scholarship, networked with FBLA-PBL leaders and association friends, toured the historic landmarks of San Antonio including The Alamo and the riverwalk, and came home with 2 national trophies: 6th place in Job Interview and 10th place in Integrated Marketing Campaign.

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Since our initial chartering in 1989, the UW chapter has seen its highs and lows in Seattle and the FBLA-PBL community, bringing together generations of community-minded students, educators, and professionals to business-related opportunities. If you are a University of Washington student (Seattle, Bothell, or Tacoma campus) and would like to join the Phi Beta Lambda chapter, please contact us today. 🙂 (bonus points if you’re an alumnus of a CTSO (FBLA, DECA, FFA, BPA, TSA, FCCLA, and others) from your high school experience)